The chief US nuclear negotiator, Christopher Hill, said Wednesday he will fly to Singapore next week for informal six-party talks on setting protocols for the disabling of North Korea's nuclear facilities. The informal meeting follows up on the agreement made in Beijing last week to complete the disabling of the North's nuclear facilities and provide energy aid to that nation by the end of October, as a step towards eventual dismantlement of Pyongyang's nuclear programmes under an aid-for-denuclearization deal. "There will be some kind of six-party event in Singapore," Hill told reporters after spending hours in a closed-door Senate hearing. "We look forward to the verification discussion, but we haven't worked out on when and how." Hill was referring to next week's annual ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore, where US Secretary Condoleezza Rice, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-jun and top diplomats of four other nations in the six-party talks will discuss regional security issues. The other parties are South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Hill would not preclude the possibility of the foreign ministers of the six countries getting together on the margins of the ARF session, saying "I don't know. We are waiting for what the Chinese are saying." Hill would not discuss the classified hearing, just saying he expected to meet his counterparts in Singapore on the sidelines of the ARF to produce verification protocols "very soon" for the North's nuclear disablement. Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon.

[Yonhap headline: "Hill To Fly to Singapore for Informal Six- Party Nuclear Talks"]

WASHINGTON, July 16 (Yonhap) - The chief US nuclear negotiator, Christopher Hill, said Wednesday he will fly to Singapore next week for informal six-party talks on setting protocols for the disabling of North Korea's nuclear facilities.

The informal meeting follows up on the agreement made in Beijing last week to complete the disabling of the North's nuclear facilities and provide energy aid to that nation by the end of October, as a step towards eventual dismantlement of Pyongyang's nuclear programmes under an aid-for-denuclearization deal.

"There will be some kind of six-party event in Singapore," Hill told reporters after spending hours in a closed-door Senate hearing. "We look forward to the verification discussion, but we haven't worked out on when and how."

Hill was referring to next week's annual ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore, where US Secretary Condoleezza Rice, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-jun and top diplomats of four other nations in the six-party talks will discuss regional security issues. The other parties are South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

Hill would not preclude the possibility of the foreign ministers of the six countries getting together on the margins of the ARF session, saying "I don't know. We are waiting for what the Chinese are saying."

Hill would not discuss the classified hearing, just saying he expected to meet his counterparts in Singapore on the sidelines of the ARF to produce verification protocols "very soon" for the North's nuclear disablement.

The hearing was held amid criticism that the Bush administration, in its waning months, compromised by accepting North Korea's programme list that did not include nuclear warheads, its alleged uranium-based programme and its purported nuclear proliferation to Syria.

The Bush administration notified Congress last month of its intention to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism within 45 days.

Unless Congress takes action, the delisting will take effect Aug. 11.

Critics say North Korea might not intend to abandon its nuclear ambitions, although its declaration includes its plutonium- producing nuclear reactor, which is said to be old enough for scrapping in one way or another.

Reports said Rice may have a one-on-one meeting with North Korea's Pak on the margins of the ARF, although her spokesman, Sean McCormack, said earlier this week, "There's nothing on the schedule at this point."

Since joining the ARF in 2000, North Korea has been sending its top diplomat to the security forum.

In 2002, then-US Secretary of State Colin Powell talked to his North Korean counterpart, Paik Nam-sun, on the sidelines of the ARF in Brunei in a casual 15-minute "pull aside" meeting to discuss the policy of the Bush administration, which months earlier had labelled Pyongyang as part of an axis of evil, along with Iraq and Iran.

In 2004, on the sidelines of another forum in Jakarta, Powell and Paik held a formal meeting on facilitating the six-party talks, which had begun a year earlier.

Originally published by Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 2211 16 Jul 08.

Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance ActSenator Chris Dodd vowed to filibuster the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped this administration violate the civil liberties of Americans. "It is time to say: No more. No more trampling on our Constitution. No more excusing those who violate the rule of law. These are fundamental, basic, eternal principles. They have been around, some of them, for as long as the Magna Carta. They are enduring. What they are not is temporary. And what we do not do in a time where our country is at risk is abandon them."

Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Korea; COS - China; Figures; COS - Cameroon; Diplomacy

PCOL4169041

Add a Message

This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.